Internet Archive's in-browser audio player requires JavaScript to be enabled. It appears your browser does not have it turned on. Please see your browser settings for this feature.

FFM-004: Michael Meara - Contemplation 1

by: Michael Meara

Publication date: 2011-10-27

Usage: Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0

Topics: ambient, ambient music, Creative Commons, netlabel, electronic, abstract, meditation, sleep

Language: English

The Sutra of the Heart of the Lady Perfection of Wisdom

Thus have I heard. At one time Lord Buddha was staying at Vulture Peak Mountain in Rajagriha, with a great gathering of the monastic sangha and the bodhisattva sangha.

At the same time, noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, was looking right at the experience of the profound perfection of wisdom and he saw the five groups to be empty of nature.

Then, through the power of the Buddha, venerable Shariputra said to noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, “How does a son or daughter of the noble family, who wishes to practice the profound perfection of wisdom, train?”

Addressed in this way, noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, said to venerable Shariputra, “O Shariputra, a son or daughter of the noble family who wishes to practice the profound perfection of wisdom looks in this way: see the five groups to be truly empty of nature.

Form is emptiness; emptiness is form. Emptiness is not other than form; form is not other than emptiness. In the same way, feeling, concept, mental formation, and consciousness are emptiness.

Therefore, Shariputra, all experience is emptiness. It is not defined. It is not born or destroyed, impure or free from impurity, not incomplete or complete.

Therefore, Shariputra, in emptiness, there is no form, no feelings, no concepts, no mental formations, no consciousness; no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind, no appearance, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no mind object; no eye element up to no mind element and no mind consciousness element; no ignorance, no end of ignorance up to no old age and death, no end of old age and death; no suffering, no origin, no cessation, no path; no pristine awareness, no attainment, and no non-attainment.

Therefore, Shariputra, because, for bodhisattvas, there is no attainment, they rest, trusting the perfection of wisdom. With nothing clouding their minds, they have no fear. They leave delusion behind and come to the end of nirvana.

This translation by Ken McLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

I'll let the music express this more directly. Michael Meara seems well suited to present these ideas in sonic form. Follow him in contemplation and see where he leads.

Brad Ross-MacLeod
October 2011

“Contemplation 1 - Void in Form” is the first in an ongoing series of subliminal drift pieces by Australian ambient musician Michael Meara. This long form piece features processed lap steel guitar and is intended for low level playback.

Released October 27, 2011